Redbox Instant Enters Crowded Instant-Streaming Field With Public Beta

Get Redbox in your home without the giant kiosk. Photo: Alex Washburn/Wired

The streaming-video market is getting streamier as Redbox Instant, the Redbox/Verizon mashup aimed squarely at the Netflix juggernaut, goes into the public beta phase by the end of December.

In addition to streaming videos like Netflix, $8 bucks a month gets subscribers as many as four DVDs a month at the giant red box in their local convenience store or supermarket. They’ll have to fork over another buck a month for Blu-ray. Anyone who doesn’t feel like schlepping across town for a copy of Battleship can pay 6 bucks for a streaming-only account.

All of this is part of a broader effort, announced in February, to take a bite out of Netflix. Redbox Instant is cheaper than Netflix, and it provides access to flicks from Warner Bros., Sony and Epix (who partners with Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate and MGM). But Redbox Instant will have fewer streaming titles than Netflix.

The idea looks a lot like Blockbuster’s plan of offering streaming video and the joy of picking up discs at a brick-and-mortar store. That hasn’t worked out too well for Blockbuster, and it’s hard to see how Redbox will do much better chipping away at Netflix’s dominance in the video-streaming market.

When the Redbox Instant service does launch to the masses (sometime in 2013) it will be available on iOS, Android and Google TV devices in addition to smart TVs and Blu-ray players form LG and Samsung.